Are you part of the NICU club? Do you have a child who is still struggling with the effects of being born too soon from preeclampsia? Share your concerns and stories here among parents who have been there.

In 2005 I had an IUGR baby (1 lb 15ounce) and since his nicu stay I felt he needed to drink his milk and would 'force' him to drink by distracting him walking around etc. He is now 4 years old and dislikes food other than that he is healthy and VERY active. Last December I had a baby who was 5.5 lbs and seemed to be doing good with her milk. However since 3 mths she has not been drinking enough. She drinks abt 2 ounces and then is not interested. My Dr. said she has to drink so again I have started 'forcing' be feeding in her sleep or walking around. Right now she is 4 months and 13 lbs 4 ounces so weight-wise she is fine. I don't want long run issues like my son but my Dr. says she needs the calories. Any advise???

Are you feeding formula or breastmilk? My 26 weeker had a definite preference for one formula over another. He would only drink Nestle Good Start (of course, I think we went through about 4 others before I found that one).

With my FT son, he decided he no longer wanted to drink from a bottle (I was nursing him, as well) so I bought him a beginning sippy cup and put his milk in that. Otherwise, he wouldn't touch it.

Good luck! I know it's really hard to balance their calories with what they'll actually take in. We went through feeding therapy with our preemie and it's tough to balance their caloric intake and help maintain a positive food environment.

Ella would only drink room temp bottles. Is there any chance she has a temp preference? Also, I wouldn't put too much stock into anything you've done to win the picky eater contest. My five-year-old boy survives, basically, on bread and milk (with an occasional banana and apple). He eats what he needs to grow, but never in excess - ever. My daughter, OTOH, has always loved everything we've eaten: beans of any kind (chickpeas, blackbeans, pintos, etc), rice, salsa, Mexican/Japanese/Indian food, she doesn't care if it's all a big pile of smooshed up mess on her plate or in individual sections. She's never met a fruit or vegetable she doesn't love. Their eating habits are night and day. When they were babies, we did everything the same - introduced solids at the same age, introduced foods in the same order, offered table foods at the same time - and it made no difference in the kind of eater they each became. When Ella was a baby, my mother and MIL both were insistant that "they" would ensure this baby was eater (implying I was responsible for the kind of eater Nicolas was). Clearly, this was all phooey. Do what you need to do to get her to eat; I know from having one of those kids who dislikes eating how hard it is NOT to blame yourself or something you did for the difficulties.

It sounds like Alysha has given you great advice about how to get some calories in her, too. These little ones never make anything easy, huh? ;)

My son is picky about his sippy cups and then you have to deal with the stopper. We have to take the stoppers out because he's not sucking hard enough to get it out yet. So far, he has done best with the Nuby brand (bigger, soft spout)and Avent (smaller spout, but still soft). Good luck!